Thespians, cellists, sopranos, step aside: The show won’t go on unless the bean counters are happy.

City hall is looking at serious number-crunching and answer-getting in a business plan for a proposed $164-million performing arts centre.

A plan will be presented Monday to hire a consultant with expertise in such facilities to develop a business plan to arm city council with enough information to applaud or boo the concept in two or three months.

“We have to drill down to see what it is the city is getting into,” said Harvey Filger, the city’s corporate investments director.

He noted performing arts centres are complex facilities and “we’re not experts.”

So he’s proposing to the investment and economic prosperity committee the city pay Novita, a cultural sector consulting firm, $75,000 to do the drilling.

Novita has already worked with the city and has done more than 1,300 planning and development studies for arts, culture and heritage projects.

Aside from helping city leaders decide whether the proposed centre makes sense, the plan should help London, which would cover no more than a quarter of the capital cost, seek funding from senior governments, Filger said.

If city hall OK’s the plan, it can put a “minimal placeholder” in its budget to signal its commitment to other governments, Filger noted.

His report asks Novita to address more than 30 questions in the plan, including:

Who would cover cost over-runs?

Who will own it?

Who will govern it?

For what operating costs is the operator responsible?

What are the revenue sources?

What if revenue falls short?

Is the proposal for 1,300 seats appropriate?

Is it in right location?

Since performing arts facilities never make money, Filger said, the city must know the sort of obligations it will face.

Coun. Judy Bryant, in whose downtown ward the facility would be located, is a big art supporter but readily acknowledges a business plan is essential.

“We need a lot more information before we made a big jump,” she said.

Coun. Paul Hubert said he wants to see a detailed business plan “that answers the financials, from an operating perspective, from a capital investment perspective and from a leadership/governance perspective.

“I am supportive of Novita doing that,” he said. “It is important that it be a third party with detailed experience in this field that they bring to the table.”